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Refining satellite trajectories with celestial body features using neural networks

Abstract

Satellite orbit propagation involves predicting a satellite’s future position and velocity based on initial conditions. Traditional physical models, such as SGDP4, simplify the forces that act on the satellite to achieve high computational efficiency at the cost of reduced prediction accuracy, especially over longer time intervals where error accumulates. More sophisticated models like HPOP offer improved accuracy at the cost of high prediction times, rendering them unusable for realtime long-term predictions. Recent advancements have introduced machine learning techniques to refine these predictions and reduce errors. However, they often lack an analysis of model design choices, such as input feature selection and architectural configurations. Existing models do not incorporate features related to the state of celestial bodies, such as the positions of the Moon or Sun, which can influence the satellite’s trajectory. This paper proposes a novel model that integrates such features at both the initial time and throughout the prediction interval, leveraging their potential impact on the orbit of the satellite. The model is based on a neural network architecture employing GRU layers for encoding sequential data about the celestial conditions. Our results demonstrate that the inclusion of these sequential features significantly reduces prediction errors. Additionally, we have evaluated a variety of design choices such as independent sub-models for specific spatial coordinates and time intervals, further enhancing performance. These innovations lead to substantial improvements in both short- and long-term orbit predictions, providing a more robust and accurate alternative for satellite orbit propagation.

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Refining satellite trajectories with celestial body features using neural networks

Author: Calderón, J.; Ayala Hernández, Daniel; Ayala, R.; Valencia Cabrera, Luis; Hernández Salmerón, Inmaculada Concepción; Ruiz Cortés, David
Publisher: Elsevier
Year: 2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2025.127453
Source: https://idus.us.es/bitstreams/1065b66f-1ced-4794-bef2-f3d15cbb2566/download
Con en s lis s a ailable a ScienceDi ec
Expe Sys ems Wi h Applica ions
jou nal homepage: www.else ie .com/loca e/eswa
Re ining sa elli e ajec o ies wi h celes ial body ea u es using neu al
ne wo ks
José Calde ón a,c,∗, Daniel Ayala a,c, Ra ael Ayala b, Luis Valencia-Cab e a c,
Inma He nández a,c, Da id Ruiz a,c
aDEAL, ETSII, Uni e si y o Se ille, A . Reina Me cedes, s/n, 41012, Se ille, Spain
bMolecula C yo-Elec on Mic oscopy Uni , OIST, 904-0411, Okinawa, Japan
cSCORE Lab, I3US, Uni e si y o Se ille, A . Reina Me cedes, s/n, 41012, Se ille, Spain
A R T I C L E I N F O
Da ase link: SCD-ML
Keywo ds:
Sa elli es
O bi p opaga ion
Neu al ne wo ks
Fea u es enginee ing
A B S T R A C T
Sa elli e o bi p opaga ion in ol es p edic ing a sa elli e’s u u e posi ion and eloci y based on ini ial
condi ions. T adi ional physical models, such as SGDP4, simpli y he o ces ha ac on he sa elli e o achie e
high compu a ional e iciency a he cos o educed p edic ion accu acy, especially o e longe ime in e als
whe e e o accumula es. Mo e sophis ica ed models like HPOP o e imp o ed accu acy a he cos o high
p edic ion imes, ende ing hem unusable o eal ime long- e m p edic ions. Recen ad ancemen s ha e
in oduced machine lea ning echniques o e ine hese p edic ions and educe e o s. Howe e , hey o en lack
an analysis o model design choices, such as inpu ea u e selec ion and a chi ec u al con igu a ions. Exis ing
models do no inco po a e ea u es ela ed o he s a e o celes ial bodies, such as he posi ions o he Moon
o Sun, which can in luence he sa elli e’s ajec o y. This pape p oposes a no el model ha in eg a es such
ea u es a bo h he ini ial ime and h oughou he p edic ion in e al, le e aging hei po en ial impac on he
o bi o he sa elli e. The model is based on a neu al ne wo k a chi ec u e employing GRU laye s o encoding
sequen ial da a abou he celes ial condi ions. Ou esul s demons a e ha he inclusion o hese sequen ial
ea u es signi ican ly educes p edic ion e o s. Addi ionally, we ha e e alua ed a a ie y o design choices such
as independen sub-models o speci ic spa ial coo dina es and ime in e als, u he enhancing pe o mance.
These inno a ions lead o subs an ial imp o emen s in bo h sho - and long- e m o bi p edic ions, p o iding
a mo e obus and accu a e al e na i e o sa elli e o bi p opaga ion.
1. In oduc ion
On Oc obe 4 h, 1957, he So ie Union launched he i s a i icial
sa elli e, Spu nik-1. Since hen, almos 20000 objec s ha e been sen
in o space, o which mo e han 13000 a e s ill in o bi , acco ding o
he UN (Uni ed Na ions O ice o Ou e Space A ai s, 2024). This
massi e olume o objec s makes i c ucial o ack hem o ensu e
he e iciency, sa e y, and success o space missions and he p ope
unc ioning o sa elli es (Ayala, Ayala, Vidal, & Ruiz, 2023; Le i &
Ma shall, 2011; Re aa , Badawy, Ash y, & Adel, 2018).
O bi p opaga ion consis s in he p edic ion o he posi ion and
eloci y o a sa elli e a some u u e da e and ime (known as epoch
in he con ex o as onomy), gi en some ini ial condi ions (Flo es,
Bu hani, & Fan ino, 2021). The ajec o y o a sa elli e is in luenced
by a ious o ces, mainly g a i a ional and cen i ugal, as well as o he
pe u ba ions such as he in luence o he Sun, he Moon, and o he
∗Co esponding au ho a : SCORE Lab, I3US, Uni e si y o Se ille, A . Reina Me cedes, s/n, 41012, Se ille, Spain.
E-mail add esses: [email p o ec ed] (J. Calde ón), [email p o ec ed] (D. Ayala), [email p o ec ed] (R. Ayala), [email p o ec ed] (L. Valencia-Cab e a),
[email p o ec ed] (I. He nández), [email p o ec ed] (D. Ruiz).
celes ial bodies (Shou, 2014). To make hese p edic ions, wo main
ypes o models a e used: analy ical models and high-p ecision models.
Analy ical models, also known as simpli ied pe u ba ion models,
include models such as SGP4 (Simpli ied Gene al Pe u ba ions) and
SDP4 (Simpli ied Deep-space Pe u ba ions) (Hoods & Roeh ich, 1988),
which we collec i ely e e o as SGDP4. These models o e an ap-
p oxima e way o model he sa elli e o bi , allowing o e y as bu
less p ecise long- e m p edic ions. They a e use ul o applica ions in
which speed is c ucial and accu acy can be sac i iced in a ou o
compu a ional e iciency.
High-p ecision models, such as HPOP (High P ecision O bi P op-
aga o ), use di e en ial equa ions o model all he o ces ac ing on
he sa elli e. These models a e ex emely p ecise, bu equi e high
compu ing powe , making hem expensi e and slow o apply, especially
o long- e m p edic ions, as can be seen in Table 1.
h ps://doi.o g/10.1016/j.eswa.2025.127453
Recei ed 23 Oc obe 2024; Recei ed in e ised o m 31 Janua y 2025; Accep ed 25 Ma ch 2025
Expe Sys ems Wi h Applica ions 281 (2025) 127453
A ailable online 7 Ap il 2025
0957-4174/© 2025 The Au ho s. Published by Else ie L d. This is an open access a icle unde he CC BY-NC-ND license ( h p://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/ ).
J. Calde ón e al.
Table 1
Compu a ional ime o di e en p edic ion imes wi h HPOP and SGDP4 p opaga o s.
P edic ion Compu a ional Compu a ional
ime ime ime
(hou s) HPOP SGDP4
0,5 8,69 s 602.54 μs
1 13,57 s 617.03 μs
2 23,55 s 605.36 μs
5 34,93 s 637.44 μs
10 57,45 s 615.19 μs
24 4,09 min 608.23 μs
48 7,99 min 627.64 μs
These models conside in de ail g a i a ional pe u ba ions, sola
adia ion p essu e, a mosphe ic d ag, among o he ac o s, p o iding a
mo e accu a e p edic ion o he sa elli e o bi (Ba e, Muelle , & Whi e,
1971; Mon enb uck, Gill, & Lu ze, 2002; Vallado, 2001). In u n, hey
equi e he inpu o de ailed in o ma ion abou he sa elli e’s p ope ies,
such as i s mass, a ea, and o he s.
In his con ex , Machine Lea ning eme ges as a powe ul ool o
add ess his challenge: assis in p o iding a solu ion d ama ically as e
han HPOP, and wi h a signi ican imp o emen in accu acy wi h
espec o SGDP4. Ad ances in Machine Lea ning algo i hms and he
a ailabili y o la ge olumes o da a ha e he po en ial o he de elop-
men o models ha signi ican ly imp o e some adi ional o ecas ing
me hods (Lam e al., 2023; Xie, Yao, Li, Wang, Zheng, & Chen, 2024).
Addi ionally, Machine Lea ning models can con inuously imp o e as
mo e da a becomes a ailable, ensu ing ha o bi p opaga ion me hods
s ay cu en and e ec i e.
To imp o e he accu acy and e iciency o o bi p opaga o s, some
au ho s ha e de eloped hyb id models, which combine a dynamic
model wi h a machine lea ning me hod. Fo sequen ial sa elli e posi-
ion da a, app oaches such as linea eg ession and Long Sho -Te m
Memo y (LSTM) neu al ne wo ks (Ren e al., 2019), o combina ions
o au oencode s and andom o es s (Liu, Ta low, Akba , Donnellan,
& Senkow, 2021), ha e been p oposed. In cases whe e da a lacks
a sequen ial na u e, al e na i e me hods such as dense neu al ne -
wo ks (San-Juana, Pé ezb, Ve ga ac, San Ma ınd, Lópeze, Wi ig ,
& Izzog, 2018), suppo ec o machines (Peng & Bai, 2017) o a
combina ion o PCA and XGBoos (Zhai, Huyan, Hu, Jiang, & Li, 2022).
Despi e hese ad ancemen s, hey only es speci ic con igu a ions,
missing he chance o s udy he in luence o ce ain a chi ec u es
o da a o e he ou come o he models. Addi ionally, hese wo ks
end o ocus solely on sa elli e-speci ic da a, excluding he in eg a ion
o ex e nal con ex ual in o ma ion, such as en i onmen al ac o s o
ex e nal o ces, which could u he e ine p edic ions.
Among he di e en Machine Lea ning echniques, neu al ne wo ks
s and ou o hei abili y o model complex non-linea ela ionships in
da a, making hem pa icula ly sui able o p edic ion and classi ica ion
asks. Neu al ne wo ks ha e been shown o ou pe o m o he Machine
Lea ning algo i hms in e ms o accu acy and e iciency in ce ain
con ex s (Ayala, Bo ego, He nández, & Ruiz, 2020; Ayala, He nández,
Ruiz, & To o, 2019; LeCun, Bengio, & Hin on, 2015; Schmidhube ,
2015).
Fo his eason, his wo k ocuses on explo ing how neu al ne wo ks
can be applied in conjunc ion wi h simpli ied pe u ba ion models,
de eloping a hyb id model wi h SGDP4 o op imize o bi al p edic ion
as illus a ed in Fig. 1, educing e o s in p edic ed ajec o ies while
keeping a low p edic ion ime. Th oughou his wo k, we p esen
a ious models designed o add ess his speci ic ask, e alua ing he
pe o mance o each one compa ed o he e e ence SGDP4 model and
analysing i s impac on accu acy. Ou mos signi ican con ibu ion is
he s udy o he impac o including explici ea u es ela ed o he s a e
o he celes ial bodies ha may in luence he sa elli e ajec o y. Ou
wo king hypo hesis is ha in eg a ing hese no el ea u es is c ucial o
he de elopmen o mo e e ec i e p edic ion models.
Fig. 1. Use o a model o e ine o bi p opaga ion. The ou pu o he model co esponds
o he g een a ow.
To achie e his goal, we c ea ed a da ase wi h da a om Kosmos
2514, a sa elli e om he GLONASS cons ella ion. Then, we de eloped
and es ed some neu al ne wo k models wi h di e en inpu da a, ind-
ing g ea e o educ ion in some o hem. Ou expe imen s show ha
he inclusion o ea u es ela ed o celes ial bodies esul s in signi ican
imp o emen s, and is key when i comes o ob aining accep able esul s
in sho - e m p edic ions, in which he baseline p edic ion p o ided by
he SGDP4 model is mo e accu a e and he e o e ha de o imp o e o
a leas no o de e io a e.
2. Rela ed wo k
Se e al au ho s ha e al eady e alua ed he ou comes o applying
machine lea ning echniques o e ine ajec o y p edic ion. These s ud-
ies highligh he po en ial o machine lea ning algo i hms o enhance
p ecision, showing imp o emen s o e only using adi ional me hods.
Ren e al. (2019) p oposed a combina ion o an LSTM neu al ne -
wo k and linea eg ession. They use LSTM laye s o p edic o bi al
inclina ion, o bi al eccen ici y and a e age displacemen , aining one
model o p edic each a iable. Besides, linea eg ession is used o
es ima e he ascending node, pe igee angula dis ance and nea poin
angle. A e p edic ing he six elemen s o he TLE o bi , he posi ion o
he spacec a can be ob ained by a simple ans o ma ion ha allows
calcula ing he e o . The inpu s o he six models a e he same: he
six o bi al elemen s, he imes amp o which hese elemen s co espond
and he ime in e al o he p edic ion. In hese LSTM ne wo ks, each
o he six o bi al pa ame e s is p o ided as a i e-elemen sequence. To
ain hese models, da a om he IRIDIUM 118 sa elli e1 was used. The
da a was di ided in o aining and es ing se s, wi h 80% o aining
and 20% o es ing. The au ho s conside he p edic ed posi ion e o
o be wi hin an accep able ange and i s a ia ion o s ay ela i ely
s able agains he p og ess o ime.
Peng and Bai (2017) explo ed he iabili y o employing a Suppo
Vec o Machine (SVM) eg ession model o o ecas he e o in an
assumed dynamical model o he ENVISAT sa elli e.2 Ini ially, hey
model h ee s a ions o gene a e disc e e measu emen s, when he
a ge sa elli e is isible o hem, acco ding o a ‘‘ u h’’ dynamical
model. Then hey apply leas squa es es ima ion o ge he s a e o he
sa elli e. A e ob aining es ima ions o all he acks, he p edic ion
p ocess is s aigh o wa d, he SVM model is asked wi h p edic ing he
e o in his o ecas o e ine he model es ima es. The inpu s o he
SVM model a e he du a ion o he p edic ion; posi ion and eloci y
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Expe Sys ems Wi h Applica ions 281 (2025) 127453
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J. Calde ón e al.
a he cu en epoch; es ima ed d ag coe icien a he cu en epoch;
maximal measu ed ele a ion in he cu en ack and he co esponding
ange and azimu h; and p edic ed posi ion and eloci y. The ou pu o
he SVM is a six-componen ec o de ailing he e o in posi ion and
eloci y ac oss each axis. The conclusion d awn om hei s udy was
ha he SVM model, once ained, had limi ed applicabili y o p e-
dic ions ex ending oo a in o he u u e. The e o e, hey ad ised ha
o bi p edic ions should be made wi hin a ela i ely sho ime ame o
ensu e accu acy.
Peng and Bai (2018) la e in oduced a neu al ne wo k app oach,
employing dense neu al ne wo ks ha used iden ical inpu s om he
same sa elli e as in he p e iously desc ibed SVM model. The ou pu s o
he neu al ne wo k mi o ed hose o he SVM, wi h a no able a ia ion:
he app oach in ol ed aining a di e en model o each componen ,
esul ing in a o al o six unique models. They s udied also he abili y o
hese models o gene alize o u u e epochs and o di e en bu nea by
Residen Space Objec s (RSOs) in subsequen epochs. In hei analysis
o his second ask, he au ho s analysed he ange o lea ning a iables,
excluding any a iables whose anges exhibi ed signi ican dispa i ies
be ween he aining and es ing da ase s. Thei indings sugges ed ha
he neu al ne wo k models demons a e s ong gene aliza ion capabil-
i ies o u u e epochs. Fu he mo e, i was concluded ha hese neu al
ne wo ks could be gene alized o a ela i ely b oad spec um o nea by
RSOs no included in he aining da ase , showcasing hei e sa ili y
and po en ial o p edic i e accu acy in dynamic space en i onmen s.
Liu e al. (2021) de eloped a hyb id model, combining SGP4 wi h
au oencode s and andom o es s o educe he p opaga ion e o . Fi s ,
hey used he encode o ob ain a ep esen a ion o he dis ance e o
om SGP4. Then, a andom o es model was applied o p edic he
embedding ec o o he nex ime s ep and inally, a decode ob ained
he dis ance e o . This was done o each posi ional coo dina e (𝑥, 𝑦,
𝑧) esul ing in h ee di e en models. The inpu o he model was a
30-days ime se ies o he SGDP4 dis ance e o . The da a hey used
come om h ee objec s in low ea h o bi (LEO): a esea ch Cube-
Sa (QuakeSa by S an o d Uni e si y3), a sa elli e payload (COSMOS
20984), and a sa elli e deb is (PEGASUS DEB deb is5). These da a we e
collec ed om he Space-T ack API (SAIC, 2024). Wi h his app oach,
hey ob ained an a e age 20%–30% imp o emen on 30-days o bi
p edic ion.
Zhai e al. (2022) p oposed a combina ion o PCA and XGBoos
model o imp o e he o bi p edic ion accu acy. The inpu s o he
model a e p edic ion du a ion, p edic ed mo emen , posi ion a he
ini ial epoch, eloci y a he epoch, d ag coe icien , p edic ed posi ion
and p edic ed eloci y. The da a used o aining and e alua ion we e
sou ced om sa elli e simula ion en i onmen s. Fi s , hey ained an
XGBoos model o choose he mos app op ia e combina ion o ea-
u es. Then, based on ha pa ame e s, he PCA–XGBoos model was
ained,in which PCA was used o educe he dimensionali y o he
da a. The a ge a iable was he ue e o p edic ion, which consis s
o six elemen s, h ee axis o posi ion and ano he h ee o eloci y,
such ha a o al o six models a e ained. They concluded ha his
p oposal imp o es sa elli e p edic ion in hei simula ion en i omen
and claimed ha i s capabili y o gene aliza ion is good o all six
componen s.
Despi e he p e ious app oaches, he applica ion o machine lea n-
ing echniques o sa elli e p opaga ion has se e al unexplo ed a eas
ha p esen oppo uni ies o signi ican ad ancemen s. The impac o
some decisions ega ding he de elopmen o models is unclea . Fo
example, when Liu e al. use a model o each posi ional coo dina e,
i is unknown o wha deg ee he sepa a ion o a model in o sepa a e
coo dina es con ibu es owa ds imp o ing esul s. O he aspec s su e
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om a simila lack o insigh s, such as he consequences o e alua ing
a e inemen model ac oss di e en ime windows (sho , medium, and
long e m) o e en aining models ha ocus on a single ime window.
Bu pe haps he mos ema kable gap is he absence o models ha
inco po a e ea u es ela ed o he s a e o celes ial bodies. Fea u es
used by exis ing models a e based on he desc ip ion o he s a e o he
sa elli e a he ime o in e ence, namely i s posi ion and eloci y, and
ea u es ha a e de i ed om hese and he applica ion o he SGDP4
model such as o bi al elemen s. Howe e , he accu a e p opaga ion
o a sa elli e o bi elies on he posi ion and speed o all su ounding
celes ial bodies, which a e no included in exis ing models. These a e
also mo e challenging o p ope ly exploi , since hei posi ion changes
du ing p opaga ion ime, and he e o e he way in which hey impac
he sa elli e posi ion.
Rela ed o sa elli e ayec o y p edic ions, we encoun e ime se ies
p ocessing. The li e a u e commonly add esses he classi ica ion o
mul i a ia e ime se ies (Xiao e al., 2023). In hese cases, models lea n
disc imina i e ep esen a ions o assign a label o an en i e sequence
o empo al da a. Howe e , ou objec i e di e ges om his app oach.
Ra he han classi ying ime se ies in o disc e e labels, ou goal is o
p edic con inuous alues a a speci ic u u e ime s ep.
Ano he dominan pa adigm in he ield o machine lea ning o
ime se ies is sequence p edic ion, as seen in a ic o ecas ing mod-
els (Wu, Pan, Long, Jiang, & Zhang, 2019) o me eo ology (Pa hak
e al., 2022). In hese cases, he goal is o in e he u u e alues o he
en i e ime se ies based on p e ious obse a ions. A p ominen example
o such models is he use o T ans o me s (Vaswani, 2017), which ha e
p o en highly e ec i e in cap u ing long- e m dependencies wi hin
empo al sequences. Howe e , in ou case, we do no aim o p edic
he en i e u u e e olu ion o he sequence bu a he only he s a e o
he sa elli e a a speci ic ins an .
In summa y, while ou s udy sha es undamen al aspec s wi h exis -
ing esea ch on ime se ies, such as le e aging his o ical da a o in e
u u e alues, ou objec i e is di e en . We nei he seek o classi y
empo al sequences in o ixed ca ego ies no o model hei en i e
u u e ajec o y. Ins ead, ou ocus is on p ecise s a e es ima ion a
a pa icula u u e ins an .
3. Ou p oposal
We p opose a hyb id model ha combines he SGDP4 p opaga o
wi h a neu al ne wo k o imp o e sa elli e p opaga ion p edic ions
while le e aging no el ea u es. The model ope a es in wo s eps:
1. Ini ial P edic ion: Le 𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) deno e he posi ion p edic ion
o he sa elli e a ime 𝑡 gene a ed by he SGDP4 p opaga o .
2. E o Co ec ion: The ini ial p edic ion 𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) is used as
inpu o a neu al ne wo k , which o ecas s he e o ec o
𝐞(𝑡) made by he SGDP4 p opaga o . The co ec ed posi ion
p edic ion 𝐩co ec ed(𝑡) is hen gi en by:
𝐩co ec ed(𝑡) = 𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) + 𝐞(𝑡)(1)
By in eg a ing he adi ional SGDP4 p opaga o wi h he ad anced
capabili ies o a neu al ne wo k, ou hyb id model aims o enhance he
accu acy o sa elli e posi ion p edic ions. This app oach le e ages he
s eng hs o bo h me hods: he es ablished eliabili y o SGDP4 and he
adap i e lea ning po en ial o neu al ne wo ks. Neu al ne wo ks allow
us o eed ou model a a ie y o ea u es 𝐟 o s udy hei e ec on he
ou come, and assess which a ian s o e he bes esul s.
In he ollowing sec ions, we desc ibe he aims and scopes o ou
wo k in o de o ou line i s limi a ions, he speci ic goals o ou ex-
pe imen s, he neu al ne wo k a chi ec u es we implemen ed, and he
design o he da ase s we used in ou e alua ion.
3.1. Aims and scopes
Ou esea ch is ocused on he e alua ion o neu al ne wo k models
when applied o he p edic ion o sa elli e ajec o ies, in combina ion
Expe Sys ems Wi h Applica ions 281 (2025) 127453
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J. Calde ón e al.
Fig. 2. A chi ec u e o he Densely Connec ed Ne wo k.
wi h he adi ional p opaga o SGDP4. Ou aim is o compa e he
impac on pe o mance o di e en s a egies o assess hei p edic i e
po en ial. Pa icula ly, we aim o s udy how he addi ion o ea u es
ela ed o he s a e o celes ial bodies impac s pe o mance, since we
conside ha he ad ance o he applica ion o machine lea ning in his
ield g ea ly elies on he de elopmen o no el ways o model ele an
in o ma ion as ea u es.
Ou goal is no o eplace adi ional models and hei physical
simula ions. Ins ead, we aim o e ine and build upon he ounda ion
p o ided by adi ional models, le e aging hei obus ness and accu-
acy o in oduce p og essi e imp o emen s and insigh s in o which
s a egies a e mos e ec i e.
We ocus on he c ea ion o models o a single sa elli e, as opposed
o c ea ing a model ha , a e being ained, can be used o in e he
ajec o y o any sa elli e. The la e would equi e modelling de ailed
in o ma ion abou he physical cha ac e is ics o each sa elli e, which
is gene ally no a ailable, in o de o p ope ly make p edic ions abou
di e en sa elli es (e.g. he sec ion o he sa elli e used o measu e
he o ce o adia ion used by he HPOP model). Ou expe imen s
co espond o a use case in which he use is able o ga he da a
abou he p ecise ajec o y o a sa elli e in o de o ain a model
and enable mo e p ecise p edic ion o i s ajec o y in he u u e. By
ocusing models on a single sa elli e, he model is implici ly adjus ed
o he speci ic condi ions o ha sa elli e, elimina ing he need o know
exac ly all he pa ame e s ha in luence i s ajec o y, hus simpli ying
he model de elopmen p ocess.
We do no in end o p opose a de ini i e and closed solu ion o
ajec o y p opaga ion, bu a he o alida e he e ec i eness o ce -
ain echniques in a con olled con ex . The i s ea u es se used in
ou expe imen a ion co esponds o he ea u es used by he echniques
in he S a e o he A , se ing as a baseline ep esen ing he in o -
ma ion ypically used in exis ing p oposals, namely he posi ion and
eloci y o he sa elli e. The conclusions de i ed om ou esul s a e
o independen in e es o any echnique. Likewise, we do no seek
an exhaus i e e alua ion o complex neu al ne wo k a chi ec u es o
ex ensi e combina ions o hype pa ame e s. Ins ead, we ocus on using
simple and e ec i e a chi ec u es ha a e su icien o exploi he
in o ma ion o in e es .
3.2. Goals
Ou objec i e is o assess he e ec o conside ing di e en a chi-
ec u es wi h di e en inpu da a on neu al ne wo k pe o mance o
sa elli e p opaga ion. In pa icula , ou expe imen s aim o assess he
impac o he ollowing a iables:
1. Base Fea u es: The base ea u es used o he p edic ion o he
ajec o y, including he posi ion 𝐩(𝑡) and eloci y 𝐯(𝑡) o he
sa elli e, as well as he SGDP4 p edic ion 𝐩SGDP4(𝑡).
2. Celes ial Bodies a Ini ial Epoch: The inclusion o ea u es e-
la ed o celes ial bodies a he ini ial epoch 𝑡0, and he inclusion
o celes ial bodies beyond he mos in luen ial ones.
3. Sequence o Celes ial Bodies: The inclusion o ea u es ela ed
o celes ial bodies in a sequence o posi ions om he ini ial
epoch 𝑡0 o he in e ence epoch 𝑡. Speci ically, we eed he
models a sequence o ixed leng h 10, co esponding o e enly
dis ibu ed ime poin s be ween 𝑡0 and 𝑡.
4. Sepa a e Models o Coo dina es: The c ea ion o a sepa a e
model o each p edic ed coo dina e, as opposed o a model ha
p edic s all coo dina es simul aneously, eplacing  wi h 𝑥,
𝑦, and 𝑧 o he 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧 coo dina es, espec i ely.
5. Time F ame Speci ic Models: The c ea ion o a model o single
ime ames, as opposed o a gene ic model applicable o any
ime ame, eplacing  wi h 0.5ℎ, 1ℎ, 2ℎ and so on.
3.3. Ne wo k a chi ec u e
Nex , we desc ibe he neu al ne wo k a chi ec u es used in ou
models. In pa icula , we implemen ed h ee di e en ne wo ks: a
simple one o p ocessing s a ic ea u es, a second one wi h GRU (Ga ed
Recu en Uni ) laye s (Chung, Gulceh e, Cho, & Bengio, 2014) and a
hi d a chi ec u e combining a T ans o me encode wi h GRU laye s
o p ocess he sequences o ea u es ela ed o celes ial bodies.
The i s model is a densely connec ed ne wo k (DCN), also known
as a ully connec ed ne wo k, which p ima ily uses dense laye s. These
laye s connec e e y inpu ea u e o e e y ou pu ea u e wi h a unique
weigh o each connec ion. They a e pa icula ly use ul o asks in
which he ea u es do no ha e an inhe en o de o spa ial ela ion-
ships be ween hem, as is he case wi h mos o he ea u es we use,
such as he p edic ion p o ided by he SGDP4 model, o he sa elli e
posi ion and eloci y a he ini ial epoch. This model, depic ed in Fig.
2, con ains 7 in e media y dense laye s o sizes 128, 128, 256, 256,
128, 128, 64. Each laye is ollowed by a ReLU ac i a ion laye , and
a skip connec ion is added a e e e y laye wi h he same ou pu size
as he p e ious one. Finally, he ou pu laye has size 3 co esponding
o he h ee p edic ed coo dina es, o size 1 o he cases in which an
independen model is ained o each coo dina e.
The use o esidual skip connec ions was essen ial, specially in
models ha ecei ed sequen ial da a. This change in he a chi ec u e
led o big imp o emen s in he p edic ion pe o mance, educing he
e o in 80% app oxima ely.
The second model adds GRU laye s. This model uses as i s main
componen one o said laye s, which a e designed o consume se-
quences o da a and p oduce an ou pu o each elemen in he se-
quence. The ou pu co esponding o he las elemen o he sequence
will be in luenced by he en i e sequence, making GRU laye s ideal
o p ocess sequen ial da a (Cho e al., 2014). GRU ne wo ks ha e
been applied o all kinds o p oblems in which he inpu con ains
some kind o sequence, such as elec oca diog am classi ica ion (Lynn,
Pan, & Kim, 2019) o sho - e m powe load o ecas ing (Zheng e al.,
2018). Compa ed o o he ecu en neu al ne wo ks, GRU ne wo ks
a e simple and as e o ain hanks o hei inne simplici y, ha ing
po en ial o as e con e gence in cases whe e he inpu sequence is
no e y long. In ou model, he inpu sequence has a ixed leng h o
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Fig. 3. A chi ec u e o he GRU ne wo k.
10, co esponding o he 10 e enly dis ibu ed ime poin s be ween
he ini ial and in e ence epochs. In o mal es s con i med ha he
pe o mance o GRU laye s was sligh ly be e han ha o popula
LSTM laye s.
As shown in Fig. 3, ou GRU ne wo k handles wo ypes o inpu s:
sequen ial and non-sequen ial da a. Fo he sequen ial da a, we de ine
an inpu laye wi h a shape ha ma ches he sequence leng h (10) and
he numbe o sequen ial ea u es. This inpu is p ocessed by a GRU
laye wi h 64 uni s using he anh ac i a ion unc ion. Fo he non-
sequen ial da a, we de ine ano he inpu laye wi h a shape ma ching
he numbe o non-sequen ial ea u es. This inpu is p ocessed by a
dense laye wi h 64 uni s. The ou pu s om he GRU laye and he
dense laye a e conca ena ed o o m a combined inpu . This combined
inpu is hen passed h ough a se ies o laye s equi alen o laye s om
he i s model, s a ing a laye s o size 258.
The hi d model inco po a es a T ans o me encode , a mecha-
nism known o i s success in handling sequen ial da a ac oss a ious
domains. T ans o me s ely on sel -a en ion mechanisms o cap u e
ela ionships be ween all elemen s in a sequence, ega dless o hei
dis ance, o e coming he limi a ions o ecu ence-based models like
GRU o LSTM, which s uggle wi h long- ange dependencies. T ans-
o me encode s, speci ically, ocus on encoding inpu sequences in o
a ich, con ex -awa e ep esen a ion by a ending o e e y elemen in
he sequence and weighing hei ele ance (Vaswani, 2017).
Ou T ans o me -Based model, shown in Fig. 4, handles wo ypes
o inpu s: sequen ial and non-sequen ial da a. Fo he sequen ial da a,
we de ine an encode o p ocess sequences o leng h 10. Fi s , we
conca ena e posi ional encoding, which a y acco ding o he posi ion
in he sequence, and celes ial body encoding, which a e ainable and
a y acco ding o he celes ial body. A e ha , we inco po a e mul i-
head a en ion o p ocessing he sequence wi h he encodings. This
a en ion mechanism uses 3 heads wi h an embedding dimension o 16,
helping he ne wo k cap u e he spa ial and con ex ual ela ionships in
he da a.
The ou pu o he a en ion mechanism is ollowed by a skip connec-
ion wi h he same ou pu size as i s inpu and a no maliza ion laye .
A e ha comes wo dense laye s wi h 13 and 27 neu ons and ReLU
ac i a ions, espec i ely. The ou pu o his second laye is ollowed
by a skip connec ion wi h he inpu o he i s dense laye and a
no maliza ion laye .
A e he encode , he a chi ec u e aligns wi h ha o a GRU ne -
wo k. Howe e , he numbe o uni s in he GRU laye has been in-
c eased o 256.
3.4. Compu a ional complexi y
3.4.1. Densely connec ed ne wo k
Le us deno e by 𝐿 he o al numbe o dense laye s and by 𝑛𝑖 he
numbe o uni s in laye 𝑖, wi h 𝑛0 being he numbe o inpu ea u es.
The co e ope a ion in each laye is he ma ix mul iplica ion be ween
he inpu o size 𝑛𝑖−1 and he laye ’s ainable weigh s o size 𝑛𝑖−1 ×𝑛𝑖.
Hence, he o wa d pass o laye 𝑖 cos s (𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1). Summing ac oss all
dense laye s yields:
(𝐿
∑
𝑖=1
𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1).
Residual o skip connec ions p ima ily add elemen -wise ope a ions,
which emain (𝑛𝑖) pe skip link and do no al e he o al complexi y.
The memo y oo p in is de e mined by he ainable pa ame e s
inside hese dense laye s, which o al ∑𝐿
𝑖=1(𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1 +𝑛𝑖) including bi-
ases. The e o e, he dense a chi ec u e is well-sui ed when he inpu
dimensionali y is mode a e, as is he case.
3.4.2. GRU-based model
In his a chi ec u e, le 𝑇 be he sequence leng h, 𝑑 he dimension o
each ime s ep’s inpu , and ℎ he numbe o hidden uni s pe GRU laye .
A GRU laye p ocesses each ime s ep sequen ially, mixing he cu en
inpu wi h he p e ious hidden s a e. Each s ep equi es mul iple ma ix
mul iplica ions o size 𝑑×ℎ and ℎ×ℎ, esul ing in a pe -s ep complexi y
o ((𝑑+ℎ)ℎ). O e 𝑇 ime s eps, his yields:
(𝑇(𝑑+ℎ)ℎ).
The ollowing dense laye s add an addi ional cos o (∑𝐿
𝑖=1 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1).
Thus, he compu a ional complexi y emains p opo ional o 𝑇, 𝑑,
and ℎ, and can be exp essed as:
(𝑇(𝑑+ℎ)ℎ+
𝐿
∑
𝑖=1
𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1).
In e ms o pa ame e coun , a single GRU laye has on he o de o
3ℎ(ℎ+𝑑) ainable pa ame e s (including biases), because each ga e in
he GRU cell has i s own se o weigh s.
O e all, o sho sequences o smalle hidden dimensions, conca e-
na ing he GRU ou pu wi h non-sequen ial dense componen s adds
mode a e o e head. In ou implemen a ion, 𝑑= 3, 𝑇= 10, and ℎ= 64,
which should esul in easonable aining imes.
3.4.3. T ans o me -based model
In his a chi ec u e, a classical T ans o me encode is applied be-
o e he GRU laye . Le 𝐸 be he dimension o each ime s ep’s inpu
a e he addi ion o posi ional and celes ial body embeddings, 𝐻 he
numbe o a en ion heads, and 𝑑 he desi ed size o he que y, key,
and alue p ojec ions.
The addi ion o embeddings has a complexi y o (𝑇 𝐸).
The T ans o me encode consis s o mul i-head sel -a en ion mech-
anisms and eed- o wa d neu al ne wo ks. The sel -a en ion mecha-
nism in ol es p ojec ing he inpu ea u es in o que y, key, and alue
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J. Calde ón e al.
Fig. 4. A chi ec u e o he T ans o me -Based Ne wo k.
ec o s, each wi h a complexi y o (𝑇 𝐸𝑑). The sel -a en ion mecha-
nism i sel has a complexi y o (𝑇2𝑑) pe head, and wi h 𝐻 heads,
his becomes (𝐻𝑇 2𝑑). The eed- o wa d ne wo k adds a complexi y
o (𝑇 𝑑2).
The o al complexi y o he T ans o me encode laye is:
(𝑇 𝐸𝑑 +𝐻𝑇 2𝑑+𝑇 𝑑2).
A e he T ans o me encode , he GRU laye p ocesses he se-
quence wi h a complexi y o (𝑇(𝑑+ℎ)ℎ). The ollowing dense laye s
add an addi ional cos o (∑𝐿
𝑖=1 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1).
The e o e, he o e all compu a ional complexi y o he T ans o me -
based model is:
(𝑇(𝐸𝑑 +𝐻𝑇 𝑑 +𝑑2+ (𝑑+ℎ)ℎ) +
𝐿
∑
𝑖=1
𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖−1)
The T ans o me encode has on he o de o 𝐻𝐸𝑑 pa ame e s
o he a en ion mechanism and 2𝑑2 pa ame e s o he eed- o wa d
ne wo k pe laye . The GRU laye has 3ℎ(ℎ+𝑑) ainable pa ame e s,
including biases.
In ou implemen a ion, 𝑑= 16, 𝑇= 10, ℎ= 256, 𝐸= 3 + 16 + 8 = 27,
and 𝐻= 3. These alues we e chosen acco ding o in o mal es s in
which we ound ha hey p o ided he bes pe o mance.
3.5. Da ase design
Fo he c ea ion o he da ase we used da a om he RINEX
eposi o y o he Ins i u e o S a is ics and Ca og aphy o Andalusia
(IECA) (Ins i u o de Es adís ica y Ca og a ía de Andalucía, 2024),
speci ically om he Có doba s a ion (CRDB). The da a consis ed o
RINEX (Recei e Independen Exchange Fo ma ) iles om GPS and
GLONASS sa elli es co e ing he pe iod om 2019 o 2022. RINEX
iles a e a s anda d da a o ma used o s o ing and exchanging GNSS
(Global Na iga ion Sa elli e Sys em) da a. De eloped o acili a e he
exchange o GNSS da a be ween di e en ecei e manu ac u e s and
p ocessing so wa e, RINEX iles p o ide posi ions and eloci ies o
sa elli es.
Fo he ea men o he da a and he applica ion o o bi al p opaga-
o s we used as eRisk (Ayala e al., 2023), an R package o compu a-
ion o sa elli e posi ions. This package p o ides ools o p ecise o bi al
mechanics calcula ions, ensu ing accu a e de e mina ion o sa elli e
ajec o ies.
The Kosmos 2514 sa elli e om he GLONASS cons ella ion p o-
ided he mos ex ensi e da a (numbe o messages de ailing he posi-
ion and eloci y a a gi en epoch). Using his in o ma ion, we c ea ed
an auxilia y da ase , which con ained posi ions, eloci ies and da es o
each a ailable ins an .
We selec ed a lis o p edic ion ime windows o ou s udy, includ-
ing 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 5 h, 10 h, 24 h, 48 h, 120 h, 240 h, and 720 h.
These in e als ep esen ed he a ious imes a which we aimed o
make p edic ions and ain and es ou model, co e ing a wide ange
o magni udes anging om hal an hou o 30 days.
To c ea e he inal da ase , we s a ed by selec ing andom da es
om he auxilia y da ase . Fo each chosen da e and each p edic ion
ime, we gene a ed a new ow in he da ase . These new ows include:
he selec ed ini ial epoch, he ue posi ion and eloci y o he sa elli e
a ha epoch, he ue posi ion and eloci y a he p edic ion epoch,
and he posi ion and eloci y p edic ed by he SGDP4 me hod o ha
p edic ion epoch.
Fo ou SGDP4 p edic ion, we i s needed o con e he posi ions
and eloci ies om RINEX iles in o he TLE (Two-Line Elemen Se )
o ma Vallado and Ce ola (2012), which is equi ed by he SGDP4
model. The TLE o ma is a s anda dized o ma used o ep esen
o bi al elemen s o sa elli es.
In addi ion o he o bi al elemen s, we also had o p o ide he 𝐵∗
d ag coe icien . The 𝐵∗ coe icien is a pa ame e ha encapsula es he
e ec s o a mosphe ic d ag on he sa elli e o bi . Howe e , calcula ing
he 𝐵∗ d ag coe icien equi es speci ic da a abou he shape o he
sa elli e and i s mass ha is no a ailable. Gi en his limi a ion and he
ac ha he 𝐵∗ alue is ypically e y small, we decided o se i o 0
o all o ou examples. This simpli ica ion allowed us o p oceed wi h
he p edic ions using he a ailable da a.
Du ing his p ocess, he e we e some cases in which he e we e no
sa elli e da a a ailable o ce ain p edic ion epochs. To add ess his
Expe Sys ems Wi h Applica ions 281 (2025) 127453
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Fig. 5. Da ase samples collec ion. Black do s ep esen epochs a which posi ional
in o ma ion is a ailable. A ows ep esen samples wi h di e en desi ed p edic ion
imes. I he e is no da a o a desi ed p edic ion ime, he nea es poin can be used
ins ead.
Table 2
Numbe o samples in he da ase o each ime band.
P edic ion ime Samples
0.5 h 3929
1 h 3557
2 h 3231
5 h 2399
10 h 3405
24 h 3890
48 h 3918
120 h 3914
240 h 3917
720 h 3839
issue, we implemen ed a h eshold o selec a ime close o he in ended
p edic ion ime. Fo ins ance, i da a we e no a ailable o a p edic ion
ime o 5 h, we allowed he selec ion o da a om a nea by poin , such
as 5.5 h. This app oach ensu ed ha he p edic ion epoch was nea he
in ended ime windows. This is exempli ied in Fig. 5.
A e c ea ing he da ase , we inco po a ed da a om a ious celes-
ial bodies wi hin ou sola sys em. This da ase includes he posi ions
and eloci ies o he Sun, he Moon, Me cu y, Venus, Ma s, Jupi e ,
Sa u n, U anus, Nep une, and Plu o, all e e enced ela i e o Ea h. Ad-
di ionally, we ga he ed in o ma ion on luna lib a ion, which desc ibes
he oscilla ing mo ion o he Moon as obse ed om Ea h.
These celes ial bodies we e chosen by i ue o being he majo
g a i a- ional o ces ha should in luence he ajec o y o a sa elli e.
No e ha o he celes ial bodies, such as as e oids o come s, we e no
included in ou da ase . This decision was made due o he negligible
e ec ha he g a i a ional in luence exe ed by such objec s has in
he ajec o y o a i icial sa elli es in he imescales conside ed in his
s udy.
We we e able o acqui e hese da a h ough he JPL DE440 model
(Pa k, Folkne , Williams, & Boggs, 2021), de eloped by NASA. The JPL
DE440 is a highly ad anced model ha enables quick and accu a e
calcula ions o he posi ions and eloci ies o celes ial bodies, as well
as o he ele an as onomical da a.
We added celes ial da a o ou da ase in wo di e en e sions. In
he i s e sion, we inco po a ed he da a a he ini ial epoch o each
ow. In he second e sion, we included he celes ial da a in sequences
o leng h 10, e enly dis ibu ed be ween he ini ial and p edic ion
epochs. This cap u es he p og ession o celes ial condi ions o e he
en i e p edic ion pe iod, du ing which he plane s exe g a i a ional
o ce on he sa elli e.
The inal da ase has a o al o 36000 samples, dis ibu ed as shown
in Table 2.
4. Expe imen al esul s
Fo aining all he models in ou expe imen s, he hold-ou ech-
nique was used o da a spli ing. The da a was di ided equi ably,
wi h 50% assigned o he aining se and he emaining 50% o he
es se . The Adam op imize was selec ed o dynamically adjus he
lea ning a es and he Mean Squa ed E o (MSE) loss unc ion was
used o e alua e he model du ing aining. Addi ionally, a callback
was implemen ed o au oma ically sa e he bes model based on he
Mean Absolu e E o (MAE) me ic, ensu ing he selec ion o he mos
accu a e model du ing he aining p ocess.
Ma hema ically, he MSE loss unc ion is de ined as:
MSE =1
𝑛
𝑛
∑
𝑖=1
(𝐲𝑖−
𝐲𝑖)2(2)
whe e 𝐲𝑖 is he ue alue and 
𝐲𝑖 is he p edic ed alue.
The MAE me ic is de ined as:
MAE =1
𝑛
𝑛
∑
𝑖=1 |𝐲𝑖−
𝐲𝑖|(3)
To ob ain a eliable measu e o model pe o mance, each model
unde wen 10 aining sessions, each wi h a di e en andom seed,
anging om seed 667 o 676. The mean e o was calcula ed ac oss
hese 10 sessions, aking in o accoun he SGDP4 co ec ion in all
models.
All ou expe imen s we e conduc ed on a compu e equipped wi h
an In el Co e i9-9900K CPU, 64 GB o DDR4 RAM and an N idia
RTX 3080-Ti GPU. Thei code is a ailable on h ps://gi hub.com/DEAL-
US/sa elli e-p opaga ion- e inemen
When we indica e ha a model ecei es inpu s like posi ion, dis-
placemen , o eloci y, we e e o he h ee coo dina es o componen s
o he co esponding a iable (𝑋, 𝑌, and 𝑍). This app oach is simila ly
applied o o he magni udes, such as luna lib a ion. Da es a e p o ided
in UNIX o ma o consis ency and ease o p ocessing.
All models in he expe imen ecei e he ollowing common inpu
ea u es: he ini ial epoch 𝑡0 , he posi ion 𝐩(𝑡0) o he sa elli e a ha
ins an , and he epoch 𝑡 on which he p edic ion is o be made. Thus,
hese inpu s a e e e ed o as he base ea u es.
We compa e he di e en models agains he SGDP4 baseline, since
ou pu pose is o imp o e he esul s ob ained by said model. The ull
esul s o ou expe imen s can be ound a Appendix, in which he
a e age o each model we de eloped is included.
Nex , we p esen he esul s o ou expe imen s in a p og essi e
manne , s a ing wi h he simples models and g adually in oducing
mo e complex models wi h addi ional ea u es. This allows us o iden-
i y he impac o di e en ea u es and addi ions, se ing as an abla ion
s udy o unde s and he impo ance o each componen .
The expe imen a ion began wi h an expe imen on he DCN (Densely
Connec ed Ne wo k) models, e alua ing he impac o inco po a ing
eloci y 𝐯(𝑡) as pa o he inpu da a and whe he i was mo e e ec i e
o use he p edic ion o he SGDP4 model as an absolu e posi ion
𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) o as he ela i e mo emen 𝛥𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) = 𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) − 𝐩(𝑡0).
The aining pa ame e s con igu a ion was 100 epochs and a ba ch size
o 128.
We also es ed he pe o mance o h ee exis ing echniques in he
S a e o he A , pa icula ly hose by Peng and Bai (2017), Peng and
Bai (2018), and Zhai e al. (2022).
Fig. 6 shows he esul s o his expe imen . I is om he 48-hou
p edic ions onwa ds ha some models s a o ou pe o m SGDP4, wi h
he imp o emen being e y clea in he 720-hou (30-day) ime win-
dow. This ep esen s a signi ican ad ance o long- e m p edic ions,
which should be easie o he model, since a ha poin p edic ions by
he SGDP4 model de ia e la gely. A smalle ime windows, i is ha d
o he model o gene alize, esul ing in a dis o ed p edic ion wi h a
much highe e o .
The inclusion o he SGDP4 p edic ion as an absolu e posi ion
𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) esul s in mino imp o emen a some ime windows (2 h, and
24 h onwa ds), while he inclusion o he ini ial eloci y 𝐯(𝑡0) seems
o be i ele an . Howe e , in subsequen expe imen s using addi ional
ea u es, he use o he p edic ed mo emen 𝛥𝐩SGDP4(𝑡) esul ed in a
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J. Calde ón e al.
Fig. 6. Spa ial e o in base models and s a e-o - he-a p oposals. ‘‘mo ’’ deno es
he inclusion as a ea u e o he SGDP4 p edic ed posi ion as a di e en ial o
posi ion (𝛥𝐩SGDP4(𝑡)). ‘‘pos’’ deno es he inclusion o he o me as an absolu e posi ion
(𝐩SGDP4(𝑡)). ‘‘ el’’ deno es he inclusion o he eloci y o he sa elli e a he ini ial
epoch (𝐯(𝑡0)). ‘‘s m’’ deno es he echnique by Peng and Bai (2017). ‘‘ann’’ deno es he
echnique by Peng and Bai (2018).‘‘pca + xgboos ’’ deno es he echnique by Zhai e al.
(2022).
Fig. 7. Spa ial e o in celes ial da a models. ‘‘smj’’ deno es he inclusion as ea u es
o he posi ion o he Sun, Moon, and Jupi e a he ini ial epoch. ‘‘s mmj’’ deno es
he inclusion o he posi ion o he Sun, Venus, Moon, Ma s, and Jupy e . ‘‘plane s’’
deno es he inclusion o he posi ion o all Sola Sys em plane s (including Plu o). ‘‘lib’’
deno es he inclusion o he luna lib a ion.
sligh ly be e a e age. The e o e, om now on we epo on he esul s
ob ained wi h he ‘‘mo ’’ ea u es.
Ou o he echniques in he li e a u e, Peng and Bai (2017) ob ains
he bes esul s, bu s ill achie es wo se pe o mance han ou models.
Nex , we pe o m he same expe imen s, bu adding as ea u es
di e en combina ions o he posi ion o he bodies in he sola sys em
and he luna lib a ion, main aining he aining con igu a ion.
Fig. 7 shows he esul s o his expe imen . The inclusion o hese
ea u es leads o a signi ican imp o emen o he esul s. Now, we can
obse e some imp o emen s a ing a he 24 h ime windows, as well
as be e o e all esul s. Howe e , sho - e m p edic ions a e s ill wo se
han he baseline.
Fig. 8. Spa ial e o in sequen ial celes ial da a models. ‘‘g u(...)’’ deno es he inclusion
o a se o ea u es as a sequence ha is ed o GRU laye s o he ne wo k.
Fig. 9. Spa ial e o in sepa a e coo dina e models. ‘‘(XYZ)’’ deno es he use o h ee
independen models o he p edic ion o he h ee a ge coo dina es.
I is no ewo hy ha he inclusion o ea u es abou addi ional
celes ial bodies does no esul in be e esul s. On he con a y, he
simples se o ea u es (‘‘smj + mo ’’) yields sligh ly be e esul s a
sho e ime windows.
Subsequen ly, Residual GRU was implemen ed, o include he same
ea u es while expanding hose ela ed o celes ial bodies o a sequence
o en poin s. The numbe o epochs was adjus ed o 300 in o de o
accoun o he inc eased complexi y o he ne wo k.
Fig. 8 shows he esul s o his expe imen . While he ea u es we e
he same, hei inclusion as an expanded sequence esul s in signi ican
imp o emen s. In he sho - e m, said imp o emen allows he dis o -
ion in oduced by he neu al ne wo k o be ela i ely minimal, while
in he long- e m he e is a subs an ial imp o emen . The SGDP4 model
is now imp o ed a he 10 h ime window.
In e es ingly enough, he use o ea u es in ol ing addi ional celes-
ial models (‘‘s mmj’’) now esul s in a sligh ly be e median.
In he nex expe imen , we es a a ian o he models in which
coo dina e sepa a ion was pe o med by di iding he p edic ions in o
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J. Calde ón e al.
Fig. 10. Example o e olu ion o spa ial e o o a single s a ing posi ion.
h ee dis inc componen s, esul ing in he c ea ion o h ee models
ins ead o one: 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧.
This p ocess was ca ied ou o he models ha showed he bes
pe o mance, which we e all o he Residual GRU a chi ec u e. A i s
glance, he models may pe o m simila ly. Howe e , he loss om one
coo dina e migh nega i ely impac he o he s. This can lead o wo se
o e all pe o mance, as e o s in p edic ing one coo dina e can a ec
he p edic ions o he o he s.
The e o e, we es i aining a sepa a e model o each coo dina e,
despi e being mo e cos ly, imp o es he p edic ion esul s. By ha ing
indi idual models, each one can ocus on he speci ic cha ac e is ics
and pa e ns o i s coo dina e wi hou in e e ence om o he s.
Fig. 9 shows he esul s o his expe imen . The imp o emen in
p edic ions is p esen a e e y p edic ion ime. This indica es ha
sepa a ing coo dina es has a posi i e impac on bo h sho - e m and
long- e m p edic ion accu acy. No e ha his addi ion leads o he i s
models ha consis en ly do no wo sen he p edic ion o he SGDP4
model a sho - e m, bu achie e an equi alen o be e median a
e e y ime window.
Fig. 10 shows an example in which he sa elli e o an o bi is
p opaga ed om a andom single poin , displaying he spa ial e o
in ime o he SGDP4 model and he co ec ion wi h he bes neu al
ne wo k e inemen . The model is, howe e , s ill no o much use o
p edic ions below he 10 h ime window. I is ou hypo hesis ha he
gene al aining leads he model o ocus on he longe p edic ion imes
ha cause a highe loss. The e o e, we explo e aining models o
each ime window ha may lead o be e pe o mance compa ed o
a gene al app oach.
Based on he success o he inco po a ion o a GRU laye we im-
plemen ed a T ans o me -Based a chi ec u e, inco po a ing an encode
and main aining he same ea u es as in he las model. The numbe o
epochs was adjus ed o 200.
Fig. 11 shows he esul s o his expe imen . Al hough he ea u es
emained unchanged, he inco po a ion o he encode signi ican ly
inc eased bo h he aining and he execu ion ime. Howe e , his
modi ica ion did no enhance he p edic i e pe o mance compa ed o
he p e ious GRU model.
The a chi ec u e showing he bes accu acy was g u(s mmj) +
mo + el (XYZ). Based on his a chi ec u e, 10 models we e ained
co esponding o each ime window. In his app oach, o a speci ic
p edic ion ime, he nea es specialized model is used, such as applying
he 10-hou window model o an 8-hou p edic ion.
Fig. 12 shows he esul s o his expe imen . The di e ence o
pe o mance is d ama ic a he sho - e m, whe e i has achie ed be e
esul s ac oss all ime windows. A lowe imp o emen can be obse ed
a he 2 h ime window, which may be caused by some cyclical
as onomic ac o .
In he medium and long e m, he new model also ou pe o ms
he SGDP4 baseline. Howe e , i is impo an o no e ha i does no
su pass i s equi alen gene al e sion, p obably because o he p esence
o mo e aining da a when no es ic ing he model o a single ime
window.
Rega ding compu a ional e iciency, he aining o he bes model,
g u(s mmj) + mo + el (XYZ), ook app oxima ely 27 min, and he
specialized models ook a ound 2.3 min each. Conside ing ha he
model ac ually equi es he aining o h ee sepa a e models, his is a
easonable ime ha would allow he use o ain wi h a bigge da ase
o o explo e model hype pa ame e s i mo e complexi y is needed o
he model. I he use is in e es ed in u he educing he aining ime,
apa om adi ional gene ic echniques, a lowe numbe o poin s o
he sequence o celes ial bodies could be used.
5. Conclusions and u u e wo k
We ha e p esen ed a ho ough s udy on he applica ion o neu al
ne wo ks o sa elli e p opaga ion, speci ically o e ine he p edic ions
p o ided by he SGDP4 model. While exis ing li e a u e con ains a
a ie y o machine lea ning echniques applied o his domain, ou
esea ch dis inguishes i sel h ough a numbe o no el con ibu ions
ha allow he educ ion o he e o in he p opaga ion by an o de
o magni ude while. An exhaus i e e alua ion o di e en a ian s has
enabled us o p ope ly s udy he con ibu ion o se e al design choices,
such as he c ea ion o dis inc models o each coo dina e.
Fig. 11. Spa ial e o in T ans o me -Based models.
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